Re: Why does reply not reply to the list?

** Reply to message from Quinn Taylor <quinntaylor_at_mac.com> on Thu, 7 Aug 2008
21:09:50 -0600

What I tried to say in my last post and did not do a very good job of is:

> I know perfectly well where "Reply All" command is in my email client,
> but the habit of pressing Cmd-R for a normal Reply is deeply

I think "reply all" should never have been put in a email client, its bad for
your health.

> ingrained. I'm trying to break the habit exclusively for this
> list. :-/ Calling out users who prefer a different behavior and
> assuming "that they are terrible at operating their email client" is
> similarly hypocritical; if the tables were turned, you'd complain
> about having to retype a private email address. "Brain dead" is in the
> eye of the beholder, and dependent on the context. For example, I
> suppose we could choose to mock those whose clients' copy-paste
> functionality aren't helpful enough to prevent re-typing addresses
> that are already in the message... ;-)

The arguments both for and against munging the "reply-to" use email clients as
the solution/problem. As for me the argument for munging is more convincing
than the argument against given the current state of reply options available in
most email clients.

As far as I am concerned MOST email clients are brain dead. Which is why we
are having this conversation.

> Personally, I like Mail.app, while others like Outlook, Thunderbird,
> Eudora, pine, mutt, elm, etc. The fact that your mail client works the
> way you want when a list is set up the way you like does not make all
> other options categorically wrong. And let's be honest, using only
> examples from text-based mailers is not scientifically convincing
> evidence that munging makes all users miserable.

My preferred email client is none of the above.

If most email clients had GOOD options (more fine grained and easily used) for
replying then "reply to" would be moot.

The only reason I put the list address in the "reply-to" field (for lists that
do not do it automatically) is for those people that always "reply-all" as I do
not like duplicate messages (and no my email client does not have a filter for
eliminating duplicates).

-- 
Robert Blair
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